The oldest wooden house in Switzerland is called House Bethlehem, located in the city Schwyz. It was built in 1287 and is still inhabited and in good shape. Pretty crazy.

My wife's family is from Switzerland, when we visited, we went to her Dad's house he grew up in and that house was over 700 years old, built shortly after Switzerland gained their independence!

Seriously, how often would you expect to hear ANYONE say, “beautiful factory,” and to have everyone agree?

I love the way you guys are so open to other options. The shifting of our thinking from Mcdonald to quality, long term buildings, healthy and sustainable to make. I know these houses use a lot of wood but it's awesome to see the light bulbs clicking and you guys educating people on alternative healthy methods! Thanks for sharing!

Wood nails for a nail gun! My life is complete! So cool

Matt thank you so much for listening and for this episode. I know I have been a thorn asking for healthy, non-off gassing, and non synthetic material homes. You certainly delivered with this episode.

Another great video guys. Here in the Netherlands it’s common builder’s knowledge that with a steel structure you’ll have to cover it up with fireproof material to prevent it from warping during a fire. Massive wooden posts and beams can withstand fire for a longer period of time. Note that he said: “....that’s more than enough time to get out of the house.” Mostly the fire won’t kill you, the toxic gasses and the collapse of a building are much more likely to before a fire actually reaches you. Besides, anyone who ever experienced “fogging” (a black discolouration of walls or ceilings which isn’t from smoke and which building material and furniture manufacturers don’t want you to know about) will LOVE a house with only natural materials in them. Modern houses in the netherlands these days are mostly calculated to last only 40 years. By that time they figure everything is outdated and will have to be improved or replaced anyway. Tons of chemicals used which have to be discarded some day.

I can only imagine how awesome those houses smell.

Love to see more about how the wall is actually assembled and the layers are fastened to each other. Spacing and other details. You know, for the DIY cabin builder

Hi, I'm Swiss, was born and raised in Geneva, and *your thinking about old european countries/cultures (at 7'50")* is one of the rare times an american gets it : *ressources were always scarse in Europe* because of the population density, while *in America, they were abundant* (since only a small population of natives used only what they needed), hence the first stock exchange in Chicago for timber and buffalo meat (not really needed, but cut and hunted to allow Chicago's expansion). As a future architect, I know this kind of thinking has never been in the american culture, but I believe it is essential for a sustainable future *everywhere* !

I lived in hundred year old homes in Germany. Great episode. Using wood as fasteners is a very old method. It was used on boats. A recently built example is the Sultana docked in Chestertown, Maryland.

Great video. That was fascinating. A minute or two in, I went 'hold on - is that a _wooden factory_ too?!' Brilliant. Beautifully constructed at that. You get so used to seeing the standard steel frame and concrete factory buildings that 99% of companies use.

I saw a 3 layers(4in thick) wall house under construction in New Zealand. Now I understand what they are doing. Thank you so much for the hard work! I have learned a lots on every episode! Can’t wait to see the “coolest house”.

Honey could we build a house that we can actually find the studs in? “Hold my beer darling”

Wow, super cool! Thanks for sharing! I definitely agree that we in the US need to change our mindset and how we view construction! People don't think about a houses' environmental impact or them lasting for generations... they certainly don't think about furniture that way! Everything is made to be disposable and replaceable to keep up the latest "trends and styles"! Keep it up Switzerland!

Wooden homes have a *good atmosphere and ambience inside.*

My grand parents house is adobe its walls are 30 inches thick, a few steel fasteners in the headers and is over 300 years old in New Mexico. It is very beautiful and efficient. Using local materials is the way to go. Thanks for the awesome video!

Waking up in the morning with wood...good.

I really love and admire how these buildings performed as a closed loop system, all natural products for the main structure, no off gassing, sequestering carbon the list goes on. Thank you Matt for putting together a video series that shows off this amazing construction technique.

Okay.. i was amazed just with the wood nails but this whole video is awesome!

Matt/Jordan: Thanks to the USAF, we were fortunate enough to live in Germany for 4 yrs, and couldn’t have been more impressed with the residential construction and their long-term building philosophy. Despite rarely being subject to the severe storms and other natural phenomena we in the US need to plan for, their typical heavy block wall and concrete floor construction is far more resilient than the typical US home, not to mention the robustly engineered doors, windows and ubiquitous rolling shades...and will last many times longer. Of course they don’t move 11 times during their lives like Americans do on average, but that’s another discussion. What I’ve often wondered, however, is how their typical designs compare to what we’ve learned from a “building science” perspective...what would Joe Lstiburek say!?! I suspect there are interesting lessons or hybrid solutions that could be applied to US homes and vice versa.

Awesome video. You shared something different, interesting and thought provoking. Thank you!

EXCELLENT VIDEO...!!!...and that is from a critic! Matt...I'm one of your faithful critics of much of what you present...I don't watch your videos often. I only review one (and maybe comment) when a student/client has a question about something that you are either "getting wrong" or just out of scope on or presenting to narrow of perspective about... This video, over all, was excellent and I simply loved your enthusiasm about the "old"...new (???) technology. As a Timberwright in the old tradition I can more than attest to the age this type of construction will reach, and its well past 500 years...IF...taken care of... P.S. Those barn beams are not ..."bowing"...at all on those 300 to 600 year old barns. They do check and in some applications have naturally "bent" timber...I started my path in all this as an apprenticed Old Order Amish Barnwright...so can speak how those barns you saw got built...as well as...WOOD...bridges...??? which work great by the way!!! More videos like this please...and maybe expand your horizons a bit into full on "natural building" that do not use all the noxious and toxic materials killing this planted like Tyvek, modern concretes, modern steels, glues, plastic paints, and unnecessary over abundance of chemicals...I've been designing, consulting and building archtiecture for over 40 years and have...NEVER!!!!...had to use any of those materials in a building...

I was just AMAZED at how long our Amish built barn lasted; notched beams, wooden pegs instead of nails, built with real understanding and know-how to last generations.

Thank you for this awesome series. Hopefully you can change some peoples minds!

Matt you need to go to South France or Spain or Portugal to see full mediteranean built houses with brick, concrete and stones.

I am absolutely loving these international episodes!

It is always nice to see other ways of building. It stimulates the the mind and imagination. The cost is prohibitive for maybe 90% of Americans, or more, but never the less interesting. When we talk about changing americans to think long term, that too is not our way, we want fast money fast cars, fast food, and all for under a buck! Love the Build show, great information.

500 years no problem, I've seen wooden buildings in Norway and the UK that are almost 1000 years old, although in Norway they are pine tared. Also depends on climate and insect attack.

"This is not Chip and Joanna wood on the inside" haha I love it

The evalution of the thermal performance and energy demand of the building shows that it is possible to achieve a 40% reduction in the heat losses, compared with fixed internal gains and improved solar gains. It is POSSIBLE ALSO to obtain important reduction in the fuel consumption. Additinally the recycling of an existing building also allows an important saving in the costs, as well as the economic advantage of building under the profection of the existing roof in the cold climate with high reimfall. Finally, the restoration of a regional wooden building with an acttractive arhitectural character avoids the impact a new structure in the area of outstanding natural beauty. Thank you for effective presentation for one exp. for webinar of Green & Solar aspects for civil engineer! With luck from Croatia side 🇭🇷

this is so cool! Really like your enthusiasm, Matt.

As always great video. Very interesting to see how home construction is outside of the USA. But I will say Jordan that wood does work for bridges. All we do are timber bridges, and not just pedestrian but vehicular also. Again great video and I look forward to the next one.

I've been to and seen those barns above Zermatt in the Matter Valley (Matteral). They are in relatively great shape. As an aside, I was there doing research on the Gorner and Zwillings glaciers. I spent a week camping on the ice. The view out the door of my tent was the Matterhorn.

Dear Matt, I agree with you. we spend our time here in the US looking for resell value and the cost of entry, instead of the long term and running cost of the house. It is amazing once you change those metrics, the types of products you end up with. While you are in Europe, you might want to swing by Germany to check-out their homes there, they are crazy good.

What a great story and education- thanks!

I really enjoyed this video. It's interesting to see different builds in other countries.

My house is like 200 years old,.. so for the most part, it’s wood on wood on wood on wood too.

My hubby used to work for Hundegger, a German machinery company that makes solid wood wall homes. They have their machines here in North America also. They are Incredibly sturdy, efficient, and time effective to install. They withstand all sorts of natural disasters. When we retire, that is the home we will have built.

I've been building handcrafted log homes for over 49 years. I do my own designs and I'm designing for a minimum of 400 to 500 years. It is entirely possible. In Skansen, the oldest and continuously operating living museum in the world. It is in the Stockholm harbor. I went into one of the log buildings in the Mora Gård display and above the door on the inside was a flat that had been cut and the year 1320 was carved into it. That's right folks, it was a 698 year old building. Yes it had had some restoration done to it, but it was still standing and functioning as it was originally intended. I also know that I've seen enough evolution of log homes to know that, done properly, a log home can last well over 500 years so long as someone lives in it to keep it a bit warm and makes sure that the roof is designed and maintained to protect the walls. It is possible This is one of the highest and best uses of logs ever and it sequesters a lot of carbon for hundreds of years. www.loghomz.com

Gorgeous buildings! If I were ever fortunate enough to build my own house, I have my heart set on CLT. Timber just can't be beat for its strength and beauty.

Love the idea that they aren't glueing anything from an IAQ and embodied carbon standpoint!

Matt, you might want to check out Euclid Timber Frames in Utah. They build ICLT homes (INTERLOCKING Cross Laminated Timber) that is truly a unique product. In fact, I think they just finished a home. They're process is also unique because they harvest all their own dead standing lumber as part of an agreement with the forest service to deforest dense areas. They don't use any live trees in their buildings!

Great show guys.!

I love how there is so many haters, yet no one would talk this much trash about a log cabin, there is no waste in this process. All byproducts are beneficial in some way, the wood can be sustainably farmed, younger trees sequester more co2 then older growth. There are so many benefits and so little draw backs. Yes it's not for everybody but it's a great method. Quit freaking out like we are gonna make this the mainstream method and this is all we are gonna build now.

Now I want to have Wood Nail Gun. And funny, despite living in switzerland I never heard about this construction type.

Such a great episode!

Loving this!!! Intro was great :) this tech is super awesome! I would not have known. Thanks again for doing this!

Great video! Really cool concept. I definitely agree that Americans need to change their mindset and think more long term.

This is the type of house I want. I dont trust all these modern materials and their off gassing

Sitka spruce has one of the highest strength to weight ratios of any material. That's why it was used for aircraft (like the Spruce Goose) and is still used for acoustic guitars as the top wood of choice.

Great to watch thanks. My own home is about 300 years old, with a thatched roof, no deep foundations, no guttering, 3 foot thick cob walls plastered/rendered in lime mortar built on top of a rubble stone plinth, no underfloor heating and our only heating is a wood stove. We moved here to S.W England to have our family in 1995 and we weren't planning on selling after 2 or 3 years because we became part of our community. Unfortunately it's a listed home which means that in the 1980's the crappy, single glazed pine windows and cement render walls were protected and I had to get permission to take off the cement render to plaster with lime and replace the cheap windows with oak ones but they still had to be single glazed. It has a bread oven, wood beams and half rounded stone steps to get to the top floor. When looked after cob buildings will last many, many years and the lime mortars and plasters absorb carbon dioxide, are breathable and have great acoustics. I have also built strawbale homes too and without using metal mesh I mortar sprayed direct onto the bale surface, it too is well insulated, cheap to build and will easily last 100 years.

Never thought I'd see an American say they need to change their mindset to something they seen in another place. I think this is how we all should think, learn from one another and improve. Because it benefits everyone collectively as a society and leave our egos behind.

Reading through the comments and all I can think is I love how building houses out of wood is now controversial.

Japan and China have 1000+ year old buildings that are still in use today. It’s about maintenance and care

Ugh I love people who are so passionate about certain subjects or topics.

My brother lived in BadenBaden in the early 90’s with Canadian Air Force he lived in town not on the base ,the building he lived in celebrated its 1200th birthday while he was there ,we’re lucky if we can get a building to last 100 yrs in North America 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

That was pretty cool thanks for sharing.

Keep up the great work, providing excellent information to the states. We look forward to more helpful information. You are making a BIG difference here.

So cool! Thanks for another great video!

Cool construction, but if that dude says *literally* one more time I'll *literally* lose it!

Now, think about the "R-value" in a traditional log cabin and you can get even higher R-value and fire rating than this example. And it's old technology and building methods from the pioneer days.

Wonderful!

I couldn’t agree with you more about thinking long-term. Building houses and having generations living in them is the way we need to go. I believe we would get a better quality of life and get out of debt.

Matt, please give a reference to the music on the prelude. Beautiful.

I guess they don't have termites like we do in Florida.

Great tour guys......

Great video. Thanks.

Life's a birch in that factory.

I had wood once for 2 hours, I can't imagine 500 years

Matt gave a rough estimate of 43 meters. To those who are not doing the math, 43 meters is 141 feet; roughly🙂. Great video! Peacej 🙏🏽🥑🍏💚👍🏽

VERY COOL !!!! 👍👍👍

All wood construction, love that idea! Wonder if we can make nails out of Ipe...

Next episode; wooden plumbing.

Worked on a timber frame home in Colorado a few years ago, loved the organic look and nature of the wooden dowels/pegs

interesting... i have a house that was build near a mill, about 70 years ago... part of the benefits package for the employees was they got all the off cuts of wood, so many of the houses of that period were made like a wood 'sandwich'... layers and layers and layers of wood, nailed to each other... which means running electrical wiring is a bit of pain since it's not just a case of cutting a hole through drywall and fishing wiring through... BUT once the woodstove heats the house up to a temperature, the physical mass of the wood keeps it warm literally for days after the stove goes out... one benefit is since the walls are solid, it's easy to add a door or window just about anywhere since the headers are already 'built in'... i had double glazed windows installed a few years ago, and one of the old windows had leaked and caused rot, but it was just a case of cutting the level of wood below out, and just adding new ones in... kind of a brilliant design really.

A Guy from Germany here, Thank you for the translations. Swiss German is no fun.

Great video, guys!

RIGHT ON...THANKYOU !!

When you are back around in Germany or Switzerland, check some of the building that are made of just a concrete and no extra insulation. One of the companies involved is named Misapor, a manufacture of glass foam and insulating aggregates and cements. Pretty cool stuff.

Burning... Since these wood walls are solid, a fire would not be like burning a pile of sticks or logs. It would be more like burning out an old tree stump.

Matt this is wrong. The wall layers are bonded together with melted organic Swiss cheese. Thats why its called sandwich design. 🤗😉😉

Whether wood is good for bridges depends on the bridge. There are some 200-300 year old wooden bridges in America but they are of a shorter span. I've seen some wood railroad bridges still in use from settlers times. But yeah, 16inch thick all wood construction homes should last, as long as you can keep insect damage at bay, and of course, not set the building on fire. Our main issue here in the U.S. would be the strength of the wood due to lack of older growth with tighter growth ring patterns. We have an approximately 200 year old house that is starting to see some structural failure, but it is also in a flood-plain. It has physically sunk to just below ground level and the almost constant contact with ground water has rotted the beams from the truss and beam structure. The amount of damage to date would have had a modern built home collapsed a long long time ago. We at just trying to come up with the money and plan to jack it up and rebuild the foundation and base of the house.

Absolutely love that you did this video

You two guys spent most of this 11min video TALKING about this amazing building technique and almost ZERO time showing the process!! Are you gonna post another video showing the actual build?

The sound-proofing for one of those houses must be fantastic with the solid wood walls that thick.

This is so awesome.

I'm always amazed by the speed by which American wood-frame houses are built compared to brick-and-mortar houses in Europe. However, those houses seem to be built to live in for 5-10y and resell, while European houses are built to last for generations. I lived in a house built around the end of WW2 that was owned by my grandparents before us and great-grandparents before them. The house we built later on will serve multiple generations as well. Since building codes are now very strict and take into account the longevity of house lifespans, even generations from now people will live in eco-friendly/passive houses.

And I’ll bet it’s super freakin’ quiet too!!

Most Europeans live in a home of under 110 sqmeters, apx. 1050 sq ft. And so 70% of Europeans liv in apartments on average 75 sqmeters or apx 730 sqft.

Amazingly cool!

As a fire fighter, there is so little wxposed surface area realitive to its mass that its going to be one stable structure during a fire. Contents will burn up fast, structure... not so much. Incredible build tech... wow

You need to head to the Netherlands to check out some of the new wood road bridges. When I was there they had a 2 lane bridge crossing over a 4 lane highway. The bridge was supported by a 2-3 foot thick arch glulam. Beautiful strcture!

I'm sure they have the hand dryers in the plant's restrooms

Great Video guys, great content, thanks!!

Awesome!

Most people in the US move around so much, they could probably care less about wether a house is built long term or not. If they do stay in one for their lifetime, the kids will either remodel or sell it after that.

It will be interesting to see how your experiences on this trip inform your own building practices, as well as your conversations with clients.

Love this, huge fan of the idea!

Love the comment on thinking long term!